This is it, people. This is the last day for the annual Reason Webathon, in which we run some pop-up ads, send an email or two, and post 1-2 pieces a day on this here blog in hopes of persuading you, our beloved readers and viewers and listeners and woodchippers, to donate to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that publishes all journalism/commentary under the Reason banner.
But note the operational verb in the preceding sentence: the very conditional can. As I gaze (with gratitude!) upon that "r" box on the upper-right of this page, I can't help but observe that it is sadly not full, with just 16 hours to midnight. And we didn't even design the feed-me graphic to match last year's record-shattering $375,000 from 1,300 of you! So let's start with a modest, end-o'-Webathon ask: Let's push the number of overall donors into four figures, a thousand large. We're not asking you for last year's single $75,000 bitcoin donation, or the amazing $200,000 we received in the final 48 hours alone. Just get us to 1,000, and we'll see from there. YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO.
What have been your less lazy co-readers' reasons for the season of Reason? Let's read (and respond to!) what your soon-to-be fellow donors have been saying while paying:
An original subscriber when Lanny Friedlander started it! Keep fighting for us all.
After reading the book "Overruled" I think it would be worthwhile for Reason to have an article in each issue dealing with the cases being ruled on by the Supreme Court (and appeals courts) from a libertarian perspective. There is always commentary in the media about Supreme Court cases from conservative/liberal groups, and I think a libertarian perspective on legal rulings would add greatly to the conversation. Keep up the good work!
Funny you should mention that. Not only do we get to enjoy the fruits of Damon Root's SCOTUS analysis—including his conservative/liberal-transcending observations about the emerging Neil Gorsuch/Sonia Sotomayor civil libertarian alliance—but since last year's Webathon we have added the world-famous Volokh Conspiracy blog to the Reason stable. Your donations are making this possible!
Hello! I really enjoy the magazine and ReasonTV, I hope you guys continue the same excellent coverage well into the future. But I'd also like to express my disappointment that you're not continuing to produce the excellent interviews I saw last year from Nick Gillespie. I really miss the superior quality of his reporting. He has such a unique perspective, there really is no one like him in media from what I have seen, and I find his input, whether on the podcast or in any other forum, brings invaluable ballast and deep context to every subject. I sometimes compare his interviews of people with those done by others, and in every case he is singularly able to identify the most salient issues and draw them out simply and clearly. I hope some rich bitcoin investor chips in again this year to make that happen.
Fear not! Monsieur Gillespie has been out here interviewing historian Francis Fukuyama, political humorist P.J. O'Rourke, polymath intellectual Tyler Cowen, filmmaker Alex Winter, new media impresario Kmele Foster, author David Harsanyi, British singer-songwriter Frank Turner, George Mason economist Peter Boettke, American Enterprise Institute economist Mark J. Perry, and our very own Jacob Sullum. And that's just during the past 10 weeks or so, when he (and Reason!) have been busy with some other stuff.
This is all I can donate for now. Keep it up. Here's hoping you aren't all just Koch propaganda tools.
Absolutely love the nod to future aspirational giving! And though the Koch thing was a friendly jab, please do note that while David Koch does (thankfully!) sit on our Board of Trustees, we operate with editorial independence from everybody who gives us money, his family included. Indeed, expanding our editorial independence through the diversification of the donor base is a core purpose of this Webathon!
better you have the money than the government.
An underrated point. These gifts are tax-deductible, people!
I especially like the articles highlighting abuse by authorities and those showing how government impacts seemingly innocuous aspects of life, such as getting in trouble for removing trees from your own property.
Topps
Or like, I dunno, asking owners of a beloved annual Christmas lights display to suddenly pony up $2,000 a night? Yeah, we got you.
I would LOVE if my money were used to support a Katherine Mangu-Ward solo podcast. Every week I hope the guys will just shut up and let her talk. Every week I am disappointed. Sigh.
OK, the above lovefest was fun, but stubbornly incomplete. We still have some white in that orange box, and that just will not do. Let's fill up the orange, get to 1,000 donors, and later today I will guilt you all about the criminal justice good works we have been doing amid all the merrymaking. Here is the link, here is the beseechery: Donate to Reason right the hell now!
